By Claudia Parsons

BAGHDAD, Nov 2 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. general compared Iraq on Thursday to a work of art in progress and played down incessant violence and friction with Iraqi leaders as "speed bumps" on the road to stability.

Three-and-a-half years after the U.S.-led invasion, President George W. Bush is under intense pressure over his Iraq policy before next week's Congressional elections in which polls show he could lose control of both houses.

The chief military spokesman in Iraq, Major General William Caldwell, used a weekly briefing in Baghdad to urge patience.

"Every great work of art goes through messy phases while it is in transition. A lump of clay can become a sculpture, blobs of paint become paintings which inspire," he said.

"The final test of our efforts will not be the isolated incidents reported daily but the country that the Iraqis build."

Rising U.S. casualties and spiralling sectarian violence and insurgent attacks that kill hundreds of Iraqi civilians every week have sparked heated debate in the United States over whether Iraq is descending into civil war.

"The transition is not always a pleasant thing to watch as it happens but when common goals are achieved, speed bumps and differences of opinion along the way are soon forgotten," Caldwell said.

U.S. troops lifted roadblocks around the Shi'ite district of Sadr City on Tuesday when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered them out, flexing his political muscle after a week of public friction with Washington.

The checkpoints, part of a huge U.S. search for a missing soldier, had brought gridlock to several parts of the city, angered Sadr City residents and triggered criticism from members of the Shi'ite-led government.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the checkpoints had created a "human crisis" in Sadr City, which houses a third of the capital's population. "The Iraqi government does not believe collective punishment of a district is a solution," he said.

Caldwell said the Iraqi-born U.S. soldier, Ahmed al-Taie, a 41-year-old linguist, was believed still to be held by captors 10 days after leaving the security of the Green Zone to visit his Iraqi wife in Baghdad.

Caldwell said there was a "tremendous amount of political activity" under way to secure the soldier's release and military operations also remained intense despite the removal of the checkpoints earlier this week.

His family told reporters the soldier was taken by Shi'ite militiamen. "At this point we believe the ones who kidnapped Ahmed currently still have him," Caldwell said.

PRESSURE OVER TROOPS

Public pressure is building in both the United States and Britain to bring back troops from Iraq.

Bush's Republicans face possible loss of control of Congress in Nov. 7 elections, with dismay over his Iraq policy a critical factor in voter intentions.

Caldwell said work was already under way to accelerate training and expansion of the Iraqi security forces so they could take over responsibility from U.S. troops.

He said 30,000 new recruits had already been signed up to reinforce existing army units and replace troops lost through "attrition". He noted Maliki had announced plans to recruit another 18,796 men to form new units.

President Jalal Talabani said U.S. troops should remain in Iraq for up to three more years. On a visit to France, Talabani rejected suggestions Iraq had descended into civil war.

He said "international terrorists" were still concentrating their efforts in Iraq, which needed outside help to defeat them.

"We need time. Not 20 years, but time. I personally can say that two to three years will be enough to build up our forces and say to our American friends 'Bye bye with thanks'," Talabani told a conference in Paris.

The U.S. hunt for their soldier has netted 32 detainees and has focused on Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

A car bomb killed seven people and wounded 45 in a market in Sadr City on Thursday, an interior ministry source said.

Maliki, who depends on Sadr's movement for key support in parliament, has struggled to crack down on militias blamed by Sunnis and Washington for operating death squads. (Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald and Mussab Al- Khairalla in Baghdad and Crispian Balmer in Paris)

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